Rebellion, Witchcraft, and Hearing Loss
[14] He said to her, “What is his appearance?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.
[15] Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul answered, “I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do.” [16] And Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has turned from you and become your enemy? [17] The LORD has done to you as he spoke by me, for the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. [18] Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day. [19] Moreover, the LORD will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The LORD will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.”
1 Samuel 28:14–19 Read More
Here Saul has gone to a fortune teller or a necromancer to take care of his fears. He sees the huge Philistine army lined up against Israel again. He has sent David on the run so he doesn’t have a hero to win this for him. It says that God didn’t speak to him through prophets or dreams or by the priest, so we can assume he has asked God about it.
The thing is, God has already spoken about this and Saul didn’t listen. God spoke through Samuel multiple times, through David, through Saul’s advisors, even through Saul a few times when he prophesied. Every one of those times Saul listened for a moment and then went back to living his own way. He was never committed long-term to do God’s will if it interfered with what he himself wanted at the time. Saul would listen when he was corrected by a miracle, but otherwise he wanted to rule independently of God.
In this meeting with the witch of Endor, God gives one last shot of mercy to Saul. God didn’t have to allow this to work this way, he could have left Samuel wherever his spirit is. Samuel doesn’t give the relief and peace that Saul wants for one big huge reason: Samuel isn’t God. Only God can give Saul the power, acceptance, foresight, the victory, and the reign that Saul wants and needs so much. Instead of crying out to God after this, though, Saul goes ahead and marches into battle! Even with this last chance he was still not fully believing what God told him!
This is the culmination of Saul’s condemnation that happened back in 1 Samuel 15:23: Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.”
The thing that this section does, in reality, besides encouraging us to trust God and not our own schemes, is that we have to decide what we think about the Bible. If we believe the Bible is true, and everything in it is true (within the context of the genres of poetry, history, apocalypse, etc.) then we have to accept that this witch lady was really able to bring back the spirit of Samuel to speak to Saul. We have to reconcile if this stuff is really real or not.
If this communication with people after their death brought such bad results for Saul and was condemned as rebellion by God, why would we want any part of it? Rebellion against God never turns out as positive as a horoscope sounds. Trusting in any kind of good luck powers instead of God always ends in disappointment or death. After too much persistent rebellion, God obliges us and gives us over to the thing we seek, even if it’s wanting Him to butt out of our lives. That is what has happened to Saul here, with the last message from the Lord being a rebuke and death notice.
Rebellion comes to fruition in judgment after God offers a zillion second chances to repent and submit to Him. Saul just got the extra grace to be told when it would happen.
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